Sorry I’ve been MIA; I’ve been experiencing some tech issues. Anyway, the final season of Bates Motel is underway, and predictably I’m a mess. I’m not ready for it to end, and yet I’m excited to see how it all concludes. I have complete faith in everyone involved, so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

3 of my current favorite shows on TV are ending this year (The Leftovers and Orphan Black are the others) so I plan to make wallpapers for each of them, along the lines of this one. I would also like to make another Bates Motel wallpaper focusing on Marion Crane (aka Rihanna) at some point.

I started making this one a long time ago, right after season 4 aired, but it was going nowhere at the time so I shelved it indefinitely. I haven’t really made a Bates Motel wallpaper in many many months, so I thought I’d come back to it again. (Particularly since Bates Motel is the most popular fandom on my blog, though lately Gilmore Girls has made itself into a close second.) Now that I have some distance from the events of s4, I’m still kind of mad that the series strayed so far from the film canon, where Norma’s lover is supposed to die in bed with her. That said, I can understand why they felt they needed to keep the sheriff alive, and I’m thankful that they were able to give Norma and Alex such a beautiful love story in such a small period of time. I also trust Kerry and Carlton completely, so mainly I’m just excited to see what season 5 has in store next year even though I’ll be sad when it’s over. So many of my favorite shows are ending next spring! It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to them all at once.

I’ve made a major change in the archives and split the “Other TV” page into two separate pages. It was getting far too full, so that seemed like the best solution.

Next: Friday Night Lights, Nashville, Sherlock, Orphan Black, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. So many new promo pics have surfaced lately, it’s hard to know where to start…

Wow. Tough week for so many of my fandoms, particularly yesterday when the Spurs were eliminated from the playoffs just hours after ABC cancelled Nashville. (Speaking of, I must be the only one on the planet who does not think American Crime is a great show. If not for the top-notch acting, that series would basically be a glorified after school special. I couldn’t even finish s2 because halfway through it became ludicrous how many hot-button socio-political issues they were trying to shoehorn into one narrative. Not that Nashville has been well-written lately, but at least the new vision for it sounded promising. Now we will likely never get to see it.)

Anyway, I knew after watching this week’s devastatingly beguiling episode of Bates Motel that I needed to make a new wallpaper in tribute. For the record, I do not believe Norma is really dead yet. It’s too early, and if this is really how she goes, they will have changed details from the film quite a bit. That would piss me off, particularly since I spent so much time researching Strychnine poison last summer.

Next: I must have about 12 wallpapers in progress right now, and I have no idea which ones might be finished first, or when they’ll be finished, or whether they will be finished at all. Since I’m currently rather sad about the Nashville cancellation, I’ll probably try to put together something for that, though I might also wait for the finale. Obviously I will not be finishing the Spurs series, though I may make something special for Timmy and Manu. Other possible fandoms: Supernatural, Breaking Bad, Fringe.

I’m not really happy with the colors here. I may revisit this one later on, but for now I really wanted to make a Bates Motel wallpaper featuring both Norman and Normero, in light of all that’s happened in this new season. There are still a few episodes left, but season 4 has been incredible so far. Initially I was skeptical about the radical changes in dynamics between all the characters, but they’ve made it work. At this point, I’m both dreading and psyched for the epic finale that Ehrin & Cuse no doubt have in mind for season 5.

Next: I’ve decided not to make a full Spurs series unless they win the title this year. I realized I don’t really have the motivation to get that deep into the bench if they get kicked out halfway through the playoffs. Fear not, however! I have some new stuff planned for Gossip Girl (Rufus/Lily), Orphan Black, Breaking Bad, Nashville, and others.

I’m very excited to see what season 4 has in store for the Bates Motel universe, both for the development of the Normero relationship and for the general development of the plot and characters as we inch ever closer to the Psycho universe. What you see above came from a wallpaper I had started making last fall but never finished, and I’ve adapted it to fit the next in my Sleeping At Last series. This one uses lyrics from the song “Pluto.” It’s sort of my interpretation of how Bates Motel will eventually feed into the Psycho canon. For example, we know Norman poisons his mother and her lover with Strychnine. Could the lover be Alex Romero? Of course, we have no way of knowing at the moment, but I think it will lessen the impact if they introduce a new character later on. Anyway, I hinted a bit at this speculation with the chemical formula for Strychnine in the background, and psychotic Norman sitting in front of the mirror in his mother’s bedroom.

Speaking of this Sleeping At Last series, I’ve created a new page on the blog called Special Projects, where you can find all of my wallpaper series that cross multiple fandoms. You can also find out a little more about what inspired them, so check it out if you’re interested. You can click the link or just look under Wallpapers on the menu.

Next: A few wallpapers are in-progress right now, including ones for Smallville (Clois), Better Call Saul (McWexler), and Friday Night Lights (Cast).

I try not to focus on one TV series too much at any given time, but I know it must seem like I’ve made half a dozen Bates Motel wallpapers recently. (In reality, it has only been three.) I can’t help it! Season 3 really surprised me in a good way. I will admit that I thought season 2 was borderline terrible. There were too many new characters who had no real effect on the larger picture, and far too much time was spent on the town’s drug trade. Season 3 was fantastic. The story really started moving towards its inevitable conclusion. I even spent far too much time yesterday researching Strychnine poisoning for the purposes of fleshing out my many Bates Motel finale theories. Anyway, although I am not a Norman/Norma “shipper,” I love making wallpapers for these two. There are so many great photoshoots to choose from, and I can delight in making it as twisted as possible. This was one of my favorite quotes from this past season, delivered to perfection from Freddie Highmore.

Next: I have wallpapers in progress from House of Cards, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. But here is the best news (hold onto your hat!): I have started writing my long-abandoned Gossip Girl (Dan/Blair) fanfic again! For those who don’t know but might be interested, it takes place in an alternate universe dystopia, it’s called “For The Ones We Leave Behind,” and you can find the first two chapters on my fanfic page. I’ll be posting a new one very soon!

I’m not even sure what this is. It’s not really what I was envisioning in my head, but now that I’ve had some time away from it, I kind of really like it. It’s definitely different from any of the wallpapers I’ve made recently, or anything I’ve ever made, for that matter. I wish I’d had higher quality images though. How is it that these two had so many great scenes together this past season and there are no good episode stills? I also hope they will do a proper photoshoot for the whole main cast for season 4 or 5. Vera & Freddie took a bunch of great photos (which I have something planned for already) this year, but I hope to see more of the rest of the cast.

[WARNING: SEASON 3 SPOILERS AHEAD]

After watching season 3, I think that Bates Motel and Better Call Saul are my current favorite ongoing TV series. Unfortunately they are kind of depressing to watch since, as they are both prequels, we already know they won’t end well. But I think I enjoy prequels regardless because of all the delicious opportunities for dramatic irony that are just built-in from the start. It creates a certain level of comedy in these shows that are otherwise rather dark and bleak. This season solidified my belief in the relationship between Norma and Romero. Before, I wasn’t really sure it was ever going to happen, but in particular their last scene together in the finale seemed to hint that they were powerless against “fate,” in other words, the inevitable future presented in Hitchcock’s Psycho. Norma says to Alex, “It’s not your fault: This is bigger than us,” emphasis on the word “us.” I know a lot of the anti-shippers and Psycho purists think that the romantic relationships on the show are ruining the fandom because Norman-as-psychopath is the focus of the film, but like it or not, Norma’s love life and sexual history are a large part of that.

Next: I am working on a new Fringe cast wallpaper! As I mentioned above, I also have a Norma & Norman wallpaper planned. And I’m in the middle of something new for Better Call Saul, but I hate how it looks so far. I am also about to go on vacation for 2 weeks, so we might not see any of these for a while.

Note: As you might have noticed, I have given Bates Motel, Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul, and Fringe their own pages in the archive, accessible through the cascading drop-down menu. Wallpapers for these series can no longer be found on the Other TV page. Also, I changed the theme and layout of my Tumblr couple weeks ago. Go check it out!

I recently finished season 3 of Bates Motel (finally!) and I LOVED it. It was definitely the best season yet, with Psycho references and hints abound. The jury is still out on how I feel about Caleb. Of course I agree with Norma that you cannot be friends with your rapist, no matter how much time has passed or how remorseful he is. I also think it’s obvious that he is still in love with her in some way, even if he doesn’t want to be, which is problematic. At the same time, they are family. They clearly had a lousy upbringing and were very close because of it. They were also basically kids when it happened, and he has had to live with the fallout for decades. The way Kenny Johnson plays him, I also think Caleb is not all there in the head, and it’s a bit heartbreaking, even if I might dislike him. I had tears in my eyes during that one scene in episode 7 when he was trying to give her flowers and a thank you note just for talking to him. My personal opinion is that he is truly sorry but the relationship cannot be repaired. But I do enjoy their scenes together so I really hope he returns later in the series.

Next: I will of course be making another Normero wallpaper. Better Call Saul and House of Cards are also on the docket.

Welcome!

GIANT FAN is a fan art and fan fiction blog and archive created by Susan aka 22umbrellas, currently featuring 200+ desktop wallpapers, 225+ icons (temporarily removed), and 10+ fanfics for numerous fandoms. Feel free to snag desktop wallpapers and icons or avatars for your own personal use, but please do NOT alter them and/or post them elsewhere without my permission.